Horizontal arrow rest



Dec. 28, 1965 M. N. SHANKLAND 3,2

HORI ZONTAL ARROW REST Filed April 1, 1963 INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 28, 1965 3,225,755 HORIZONTAL ARROW REST Milford N. Shankland, Kenosha, Wis., assignor of onehalf to John H. Shankland, Hinsdale, Ill. Filed Apr. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 269,425 2 Claims. (Cl. 12441) This invention relates generally to archery and more particularly to a bow-attached appliance for use in supporting an arrow immediately prior to and during its propulsion from the bow.

According to traditional practice, an arrow is fitted to a bow contacting a lateral edge thereof in position to be supported vertically by the archers bow hand. With the application of modern laminating techniques to the manufacture of bows, it became possible to form a horizontal shelf on the bow above the hand grip for use in supporting the arrow. However, it has been discovered that an arrow supported solely on the rigid material of the bow has a tendency to bounce during propulsion from the bow. Inaccuracy in arrow flight results. Moreover, the fletching of the arrow is damaged upon repeated passage over the rigid edge of the bow shelf.

Therefore, an important object of the present invention is to provide a horizontally disposed rest which resiliently supports an arrow during draw of the bow and during powered take-off of the arrow.

A more general object of the invention is to provide an arrow rest that promotes true arrow flight.

Another object of the invention is to provide an arrow rest that can be easily, quickly and accurately attached to a bow.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide an arrow rest which is characterized by a long use-life.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an arrow rest that avoids damage to the fletching.

These and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent from a reading of the following disclosure.

A rest in accord with the invention includes a planar base member, pressure sensitive adhesive means on the base member for use in attaching the rest to a bow, and a plurality of flexible bristles supported by the base member to extend outwardly therefrom, the bristles having medial portions adapted to receive and resiliently support the shaft of an arrow.

In order that the principles of the invention may be readily understood, a single embodiment thereof, but to which the application is not to be restricted, is shown in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a recurved bow both strung and provided with an arrow rest constructed in compliance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the 'midportion of the bow of FIG. 1, showing the arrow rest of the invention supporting the shaft of an arrow;

FIG. 3 is a further enlarged view taken substantially through the section 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a yet further enlarged view taken in crosssection and showing the construction of the arrow rest of the invention; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the arrow rest of the invention.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, specifically to FIG. 1, a recurved bow is indicated generally by the numeral 10. The bow is strung with a string 12 and is constructed to comprise an upper limb 14, a lower limb 16, a handle grip 18 intermediate the limbs 14 and 16, an arrow shelf 20 and a window 22 overlying the shelf 20. In accordance with the invention, an arrow rest 24 is attached to a substantially vertical surface of the bow 10 above the handle grip 18. More specifically, the arrow rest 24 is attached to the sidewall of window 22 immediately overlying the arrow shelf 20.

With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the arrow rest 24 will be seen to comprise a planar base member 26, a narrow rectangular brush assembly 28, and a quantity of pressure sensitive adhesive 30. The base member 26 is intended to be fabricated from a strong, flexible, resilient material; and leather has proved particularly advantageous in this regard. The thickness and composition of the base member 26 is selected to establish suflicient flexibility in the base member for it to be shaped to the curvature of the surface to which the arrow rest is to be attached. Moreover, the base member 26 is intended to act as a mounting for the brush assembly 28 and is, therefore, adapted to be sufficiently stiff and strong to hold the brush assembly firmly.

As is best seen in FIG. 5, the base member 26 is formed with an elongated slot 32, and this slot is shaped for receipt of a backing block 34, block 34 comprising one element of the brush assembly 28. In compliance with the invention, the brush assembly 28 also includes a number of bristles 36 which are secured in the backing block 34, the bristles 36 being grouped to form a row several bristles thick. The backing block 34 can be fashioned from wood or a suitable plastic material. Since the backing block serves the purpose of support for the bristles 36, the backing block may be eliminated and the bristles sewn together with wire or thread, or the backing block may be made integral with the base member 26.

The bristles 36 are advantageously fabricated from nylon, although other flexible, relatively stiff and wearresistant materials may also be employed. Because the bristles are to support the shaft of an arrow by their medial portions, the length of the bristles is selected to be somewhat greater than the diameter of an arrow shaft. Correspondingly, the brush assembly 28 is secured to the base member 26 with the bristles 36 extending outwardly from the central plane of the base member as is best illustrated in FIG. 4. A suitable adhesive material 38 is conveniently utilized in attaching the backing block 34 to the edges of the slot 32; and in compliance with an important feature of the invention, the brush assembly 28 is fastened to the base member 26 so that the bristles 36 extend outwardly from the base member at an acute angle 40 with respect to the plane of the base member. Ordinarily, the plane of the base member 26 is defined by a forward, arrow-contacting surface 42; and the bristles are angulated with respect to this surface at from about seventy-five to about eighty degrees. An angle of seventynine degrees has proved particularly advantageous.

As described hereinabove, the arrow rest 24 is attached to the bow 10 by means of a quantity of pressure sensitive adhesive 30; and as is shown in FIG. 4, this pressure sensitive 30 is disposed on the back of the base member 26. To protect the adhesive 30 and to prevent accidental attachment of the arrow rest prior to its assembly to the bow 10, a layer of paper 44 is applied over the adhesive 30, the layer of paper 44 being coated or otherwise suitably treated for easy release from the adhesive. As will be recognized, the layer of paper 44 is stripped from the arrow rest 24 immediately prior to attachment of the rest to the bow. While various types of pressure sensitive adhesive may be used in the invention, the pressure sensitive adhesive known as Mystik Tape #6360 has proved particularly advantageous. This product is available commercially from the Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, Minnesota.

In use, the arrow rest 24 is attached to a substantially vertical surface of a bow, as for example to the sidewall of the window 22 of bow '10 as is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The arrow rest 24 is positioned on the bow so that the bristles 36 extend outwardly and so that the arrow-contacting surface 42 of the base member 26 overlies the bristles. So disposed, the arrow rest 24 is capable of resiliently supporting the shaft of an arrow 46 immediately prior to and during propulsion of the arrow from the bow 10. As will' be noted in FIGS. 2 and 3, the shaft of the arrow 46 rests on and is resiliently supported by medial portions of the bristles 36, the topmost bristles receiving support from the underlying bristles. The resilient support which is given the arrow by the bristles 36 promotes a true flight of the arrow, there being no perceptible bounce of the arrow during its propulsion from the bow. Furthermore, the flexibility of the bristles 36 avoids damage to the fletching of the arrow because the bristles yield to permit passage of the fletching thereover.

The slight angulation of the bristles which has been described serves to position the arrow properly with respect to the bow, tending to lead the shaft of the arrow into contact not only with the bristles but with the ad jacent portion of the arrow-contacting surface 42 as is shown in FIG. 3. Thus, the arrow rest 24 promotes location of the arrow in the same position each time that it is fitted to the bow. The resiliency of the material from which the base member 26 is fabricated allows the shaft of the arrow to rest on these two positions without encouraging undesirable bounce of the arrow upon the archer releasing the string for propulsion of the arrow. It is also important to point out that the material selected for the bristles 36 combines with the lateral contact of the bristles with the arrow to insure a long use-life in the arrow rest.

While a particular embodiment has been shown, it should be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many modifications, beyond those described, may be made; and it is, therefore, contemplated to cover by the present application any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:

1. An arrow rest comprising: a flexible base member for use in mounting a group of bristle elements to a substantially vertical surface of a bow, said base member conforming to any slight contour of said surface and hav ing an elongated slot and an arrow-contacting surface thereabove; brush means secured to said base member, including a plurality of flexible bristle elements connected at corresponding ends to said base member, said bristle elements having a length greater than the diameter of an arrow shaft, said bristle elements being mounted to extend outwardly from said base member and having medial portions adapted to receive and resiliently support the shaft of an arrow, said bristle elements being free at positions away from said base member whereby resiliently to respond independently to the passage of the fletching of a supported arrow and said bristle elements being aligned in a group having greater length than width, the width dimension of said group of bristle elements being dis posable transversely of the shaft of a supported arrow whereby to minimize the contact effects on arrow fletchings propelled thereover, said brush means further including relatively rigid interconnecting means joining said corresponding ends of the bristle elements to preserve the. general organization and the alignment thereof and said relatively rigid interconnecting means conforming to the shape of said slot for telescopic assembly therein with the base member; and pressure sensitive adhesive means on said base member for positively attaching said base member and said brush means to said bow surface in conformity with any slight contour variation of the subjacent bow surface.

2. An arrow rest according to claim 1 wherein said group of bristle elements is arranged at an acute angle with respect to said arrow-contacting surface from about to about in angular measurement.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 224,114 2/ 1880 Streeter 124-24 1,354,382 9/1920 Denivelle 46165 1,810,566 6/1931 Keney 46-165 1,926,845 9/ 1933 Folberth et a1. 12424 2,139,377 1-2/1938 Mull et a1. 40-125 AX 2,743,716 5/1956 Wendt 12424 X 2,802,461 8/1957 Vance 12441 2,816,537 12/1957 Irwin 124-24 2,998,811 9/1961 Sackmann 124--24 OTHER REFERENCES Shankland Saxon Corp. advertisement in Archery magazine, vol. 33, August 1961, page A-five, GV 1185 A73.

References Cited'by the Applicant UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,725,870 12/1955 M. A. Pfeiffer. 2,894,503 7/1959 E. B. Piersonet al. 2,960,084 11/ 1960 W. Kramer. 2,980,097 4/ 1961 H. F. Rothgery.

RICHARD C. PINKHAM, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS 'R. PRINCE, Examiner. 

1. AN ARROW REST COMPRISING: A FLEXIBLE BASE MEMBER FOR USE IN MOUNTING A GROUP OF BRISTLE ELEMENTS TO A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SURFACE OF A BOW, SAID BASE MEMBER CONFORMING TO ANY SLIGHT CONTOUR OF SAID SURFACE AND HAVING AN ELONGATED SLOT AND AN ARROW-CONTACTING SURFACE THEREABOVE; BRUSH MEANS SECURED TO SAID BASE MEMBER, INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF FLEXIBLE BRISTLE ELEMENTS CONNECTED AT CORRESPONDING ENDS TO SAID BASE MEMBER, SAID BRISTLE ELEMENTS HAVING A LENGTH GREATER THAN THE DIAMETER OF AN ARROW SHAFT, SAID BRISTLE ELEMENTS BEING MOUNTED TO EXTEND OUTWARDLY FROM SAID BASE MEMBER AND HAVING MEDIAL PORTIONS ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AND RESILIENTLY SUPPORT THE SHAFT OF AN ARROW, SAID BRISTLE ELEMENTS BEING FREE AT POSITIONS AWAY FROM SAID BASE MEMBER WHEREBY RESILIENTLY TO RESPOND INDEPENDENTLY TO THE PASSAGE OF THE FLETCHING OF A SUPPORTED ARROW AND SAID BRISTLE ELEMENTS BEING ALIGNED IN A GROUP HAVING GREATER LENGTH THAN WIDTH, THE WIDTH DIMENSION OF SAID GROUP OF BRISTLE ELEMENTS BEING DISPOSABLE TRANSVERSELY OF THE SHAFT OF A SUPPORTED ARROW WHEREBY TO MINIMIZE THE CONTACT EFFECTS ON ARROW FLETCHINGS PROPELLED THEREOVER, SAID BRUSH MEANS FURTHER INCLUDING RELATIVELY RIGID INTERCONNECTING MEANS JOINING SAID CORRESPONDING ENDS OF THE BRISTLE ELEMENTS TO PRESERVE THE GENERAL ORGANIZATION AND THE ALIGNMENT THEREOF AND SAID RELATIVELY RIGID INTERCONNECTING MENS CONFORMING TO THE SHAPE OF SAID SLOT FOR TELESCOPIC ASSEMBLY THEREIN WITH THE BASE MEMBER; AND PRESSURE SENSITIVE ADHESIVE MEANS ON SAID BASE MEMER FOR POSITIVELY ATTACHING SAID BASE MEMBER AND SAID BRUSH MEANS TO SAID BOW SURFACE IN CONFORMITY WITH ANY SLIGHT CONTOUR VARIATION OF THE SUBJACENT BOW SURFACE. 